Rye's life changes when his father is appointed as Governor of one of the new penal colonies. With his parents, he moves to the island, where he expects to be the only child among colony officials, prisoners, and offlanders (the native peoples of the region). However there are two other children there: Kris, who is the son of the offlander chief, and Stefanie, daughter of one of the prisoners. The three become uneasy friends, despite their parents' very different agendas: Rye's father is destroying the land through his drive to modernize; Kris's father is desperate to maintain the old ways; Stefanie's father is brewing revolution. With a wide scope and a range of comic and quirky characters, the book has something of the feel of Holes by Louis Sachar, or of the film Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? It deals with the three children realizing they don't have to follow in their parents' footsteps, and tells the story of how they bring the adults closer together and find a way forward for all the people of the island.